Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
To Fry Corn Mush
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the cornmeal the day before and pour it into a deep square tin with straight sides.
Allow it to cool and set, then cut into even slices.
Coat and fry
Roll each slice in egg and then in flour.
Fry the slices in Knut oil, turning them to ensure a crust forms on both sides.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the firm base that sets as it cools, so the slices hold their shape.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the flour coating sticks to each slice.
- Flour
- Creates a dry coating that crisps and browns when fried.
- Ko-nut oil
- Conducts heat to the coated slices, browning and crisping their surfaces.
The step that matters
Let the cornmeal cool and set before cutting. As the cooked cornmeal cools, its starch firms into a solid mass. Cutting it before it has set can make the slices crumble or lose their shape in the oil.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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